USA rolls Serbia, captures FIBA World Cup gold

They are indeed unbeatable, the U.S. National Team, winners of 45 straight games in World Cup/World Championship and Olympic competition.

Yes, the best from the U.S. is way better than what anyone else can offer up on basketball's global stage.

Those NBA players who sported red, white and blue on Sunday in the gold medal game of the FIBA World Cup backed it all up by decimating Serbia early and rolling to a 129-92 win and repeating as champs after winning the 2010 World Championship in Turkey.

Serbian pride was supposed to carry the day and make the final the biggest and best test for a team of U.S. stars who weren't even considered the "B-Team."

Serbian pride was no match for American hustle, muscle and raw athleticism that Kyrie Irving and the U.S. "C-Team" unleashed on the crowd at the Palacio de los Deportes. The U.S. lead was up to 31 at one point before halftime, a virtually insurmountable lead for a team of 12 NBA players against a Serbian crew that doesn't boast a single player currently on a NBA roster.

With the win the U.S. captured its fifth title and this team put the U.S. in elite company, joining Brazil (1959 and 1963) and Yugoslavia (1998 and 2002) as the only nations to repeat as champs.

For weeks this U.S. team, devoid of superstars like LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, not to mention Kevin Durant, Kevin Love and Paul George, heard about how vulnerable they were. Spain, and not the U.S. was being touted as the favorite early on.

What is basically an under-25 squad of U.S. stars silenced their critics with one dominant performance after another. Not all of them were as pretty as Sunday's gold medal game, when Irving set the tone early by connecting on his first five shots and piling up 15 points by halftime. He was a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the 3-point line, saving his best showing for the final game in Spain. He led the U.S. charge with a game-high 26 points and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

The U.S. started pool play in Bilbao, plundering through Group C without playing their very best and still smashing the opposition in all five games. They weren't tested deep into any of their three games in the medal round in Barcelona, smashing through Mexico, Slovenia and finally Lithuania in the semifinals. They won their first eight games by an average of 32.5 points.

Still, the Serbs, who outlasted the bronze medal-winning French team that upset Spain in the quarterfinals to claim their spot in Sunday's final, were supposed to present more of a challenge.

And yet they ended up taking the worst beating of all. The U.S. led 102-65 with 90 seconds to play … in the third quarter.

Not only was this game a showcase for an up and coming group of young NBA stars - Kenneth Faried, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Klay Thompson and even a young All-Star like Irving will all return home to greater expectations with their respective NBA teams - it serves as proof that whatever leaks there have been in the USA Basketball pipeline in recent years have been plugged.

USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo and U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski have made sure of it with their resuscitation of the program over the past nine years.

The journey that began with Durant and Love opting not to lead this team, a training camp and exhibition run that was marred by George's horrific injury, ended the way Faried, Thompson and several other first-timers knew it would.

And that's with the U.S., proud C-Teamer's that they are, with gold around their necks on the medal stand when it was all over.